The details in court documents about a shooting that left two dead and others wounded in a Springfield home last week are horrific.

The victims? Begging for their lives.

The shooter? Covered in blood.

The gun? Stolen from a car.

That type of crime — guns stolen from cars — has skyrocketed in Springfield.

Police say the annual number quadrupled between 2012 and 2017, going from 41 to 185.

In an interview Wednesday, Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams said he wants citizens to be more responsible in storing their firearms: Don't leave cars unlocked, and don't leave guns unsecured in cars.

While the gun used in the double homicide appears to be stolen from a car, Williams said preventing gun thefts won't necessarily lead to a decrease in violent crime.

"If someone wants to kill, there's not a whole lot we can do to stop that person," Williams said.

That Springfield is seeing a significant uptick in guns stolen from cars and that at least two recent killings were committed with what appears to be a stolen gun is "unfortunately, an ironic coincidence," he said.

Williams said he believes the rising number of guns stolen from cars is primarily driven by a decision by state lawmakers to drop a licensing requirement — not a "band of thieves" targeting guns for cars.

Since 2017, Missourians are no longer required to have a permit to carry a concealed firearm. More people are carrying concealed firearms, Williams said, then leaving those guns in their cars.

That appears to describe what happened the night of Oct. 29.

A man parked his brown 1997 Ford Explorer in the parking lot of a Springfield apartment complex. He got out and shut the car door, but didn't lock it.

The following morning, he discovered someone had gone through his car. His Glock 19, a black 9-millimeter handgun, was gone, police say.

According to an incident report, the owner of the Glock 19 discovered it was stolen on the morning of Oct. 30.

At about that same time, Sabrina Starr, 21, had gone "car hopping" (meaning stealing from vehicles) and came across a 9-millimeter Glock 19, a witness told police.

The witness said Starr traded the gun to 23-year-old Luis Perez in exchange for some tattoos.

Pictures posted to Starr's Facebook account on Oct. 28 show Perez tattooing four words on Starr's neck: "Kill or be killed."

Perez, a New Jersey man who recently come to Springfield, got kicked out of a home in the 900 block of East Locust by his roommates.

Police say Starr drove Perez and another man, Aaron D. Anderson, back to the home, where Perez shot and killed two men and injured others.

Police later identified the two deceased men as 38-year-old Steven R. Marler and 23-year-old Aaron J. Hampton.

Aaron D. Anderson(Photo: Greene County Sheriff's Office)

According to court documents, Anderson, 19, told police: "Perez used a stolen Glock 9mm pistol that was recently stolen from a vehicle."

The incident report about the Glock 19 stolen from the brown Ford Explorer is referenced in the probable cause statement used to charge Perez with multiple homicides.

Police say a day after the double homicide, Perez shot Starr six times in her home in 2100 block of North Oakland Avenue, killing her.

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Springfield Police are investigating an overnight shooting that left at least one person dead and multiple others shot in the 900 block of East Locust Street on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018.(Photo: Nathan Papes/News-Leader)

It's unclear from court documents whether police believe Perez used the gun that Starr traded him for the tattoos.

However, detectives make no reference to a different gun in the court documents.

A police spokeswoman declined to say whether investigators believe the handgun used in the killings was the same gun stolen from the brown Ford Explorer because the case is still under investigation.

Police know the serial number of the handgun stolen from the Explorer.

It's unclear, however, whether police have found the gun allegedly used by Perez.

Perez has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, five counts of armed criminal action, and one count of tampering with physical evidence, according to prosecutors.

Anderson has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, and one count of tampering with evidence, according to prosecutors.

Anderson and Perez are being held in the Greene County Jail without bond, prosecutors say.